


Birthday Storms

by starfleetblues



Series: When It Rains, It Pours [12]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Jim's Birthday!!!, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-20
Updated: 2013-11-20
Packaged: 2018-01-02 04:35:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1052582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starfleetblues/pseuds/starfleetblues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He had been expecting to spend his birthday snuggling with his boyfriend and making out on his bed, maybe leaving the warm bed to go watch a movie in the living room, swathed in blankets. He had been expecting his mother to make him breakfast as she did every year, and Sam to give him a hard time about graduating early, and Frank to be surly and not say anything, as he did every year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Storms

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I own no part of the Star Trek Universe, including these characters below.

When Jim woke up on the morning of his seventeenth birthday, he groaned as he rolled over and found only empty space where Leo had been laying the night before.

“Bones?” he hoped Leo was merely sitting on the floor or something, but even in his half-awake state he could tell that his boyfriend wasn’t. Reaching for a shirt, he nearly forgot his glasses until he fell over a discarded textbook and cursed. He hobbled downstairs in sweatpants with his hair sticking up in so many directions it was impossible, and was disappointed to find the kitchen still dark.

He had been expecting to spend his birthday snuggling with his boyfriend and making out on his bed, maybe leaving the warm bed to go watch a movie in the living room, swathed in blankets. He had been expecting his mother to make him breakfast as she did every year, and Sam to give him a hard time about graduating early, and Frank to be surly and not say anything, as he did every year.

He was not expecting to turn the kitchen light on and find his mother and brother, his boyfriend, his boyfriend’s parents, his best friend, and her parents all hiding in wait to jump out and yell “Surprise!” while he was still bleary-eyed and in his pajamas.

“What?”

Winona laughed as she crossed the kitchen to hug him. “Happy birthday, Jimmy. Go get dressed and I’ll have breakfast ready for everyone soon, and then I’ll give you your present.”

For once, Jim returned the hug fiercely. “Thank you, mom,” he whispered, and she squeezed him tighter before releasing him.

When Winona released him, he turned and headed back upstairs, staring at his closet and not knowing what to wear- normally, nothing happened on his birthday, because his family was too busy pretending that it wasn’t the anniversary of George Kirk’s death as well as the birth of his son. He settled for a pair of his nicer jeans and was pulling a grey v-neck over his head when there was a knock on his door.

“Come in,” he called, straightening his glasses, and he was unsurprised to find it was Leo.

“Somebody looks nice,” he said with a smile as he observed Jim’s clothes.

“I always look good to you,” Jim shot back, and Leo laughed as he closed the distance between them.

“You’re right,” he murmured, “But you look really great today.”

He pressed his lips to Jim’s, and his arms slid around Jim’s waist as Jim’s fingers began to weave themselves through Leo’s dark hair. They stayed like that for several minutes, only breaking apart briefly to breathe, hands changing position occasionally, but never separating.

“Somebody’s getting birthday sex tonight,” a female voice commented from the doorway, and Leo hastily glanced back to make sure it wasn’t his mother.

“Shut it, Carol,” Jim said, but he was still grinning from the exhilaration of being with his boyfriend and finally, actually having friends on his birthday. He released Leo long enough to hug Carol awkwardly, Leo’s hands still around his waist to claim him, and laughed at the awkward picture they all formed.

“Thank you, guys. For everything you’ve done for me. Seriously,” Jim said sincerely.

Leo’s eyes had a mischievous glint. “We haven’t even given you gifts yet,” he teased, and Carol shushed him.

“You’re going to really like it,” she promised, and Jim shook his head.

“You guys shouldn’t have gotten me anything. Really, just having people with me on my birthday in the best gift I could ask for. I’ve never had a birthday like this before.”

Leo recalled the story of how George Kirk had died, and he realized that the shadow of his father’s death must have hung over Jim’s birthday every year. He pressed his lips to Jim’s forehead, and moved to squeeze his hand.

“Well, your mum says breakfast is almost ready,” Carol said awkwardly, as she watched their intimacy. “She asked me to bring you two down to the kitchen when Jim’s dressed.”

Leo pulled back and cleared his throat. “Right, yeah, breakfast. We should-”

Jim nodded as he finished Leo’s sentence. “Go. Yeah. Come on, then.” He gave Leo’s hand another squeeze, and led the way back down to the kitchen, where he found Winona setting the table and the adults chatting amicably, and Frank still nowhere in sight.

He quickly found himself swept into conversation with Carol’s mother, Andrea Wallace. Her accent was more prominent than her daughter’s, but he was still able to understand her easily, and he found that she lacked her daughter’s passion for science, but had the same love for history, and was a professor at Oxford. She told him how Carol talked about him all the time when she was visiting now, and Jim was shocked to realize that Carol had recanted some of his more shocking stories, like the time when he was suspended for a week for fighting after some guy was hitting on Carol in the cafeteria. She also expressed her disappointment about Carol’s reveal that he was taken, but she assured him that it was perfectly fine, and she liked that her daughter was dating a Scotsman over an American, which Jim wasn’t sure whether was a compliment or insult.

Finally, Winona laid the plates on the table proudly, and everyone dug in, admiring Winona’s cooking skills and making sure she knew how much they liked it. For once, the Kirks were celebrating a birthday rather than a death, and it was a much better feeling.

Soon after breakfast was done, they were all gathered in the living room and just spending time together, as friends. Everyone passed birthday wishes on to Jim, and a cake baked by Eleanora was brought out and candles lit upon. It was the biggest cake Jim had ever seen in his life, and there were definitely more than seventeen candles on it. Better yet, Leo had swapped the candles out for trick re-light candles, so Jim’s breath, despite being long and sweeping, wasn’t enough to wipe out the flames.

The Marcuses couldn’t stay for cake though, because Andrea was due at the airport to catch her flight back to London for the second term at Oxford, and Jim walked Carol to the door with promises of saving leftovers and seeing her at the diner tomorrow. After the cake had been consumed, this time with no cake smashed in anyone’s face, Sam jumped up and declared it to be time for presents, to which Jim actively protested against.

“You guys shouldn’t have gotten me anything!”

“Well, we did, so shut it, Jimmy,” Sam teased as he passed a box over.

Reluctantly, Jim pulled the paper back to find a watch that he knew must have cost Sam a fortune- until he turned it over and saw the initials “G.K.” engraved on the back.

“Dad,” he whispered, running his thumb over the letters. “Thank you, Sam.” He stood up and hugged his brother for the first time in what must have been years, and finally slid the watch on to realize that it fit perfectly.

“My turn!” Jim hadn’t heard Winona sound so cheery in a long time, and he was apprehensive about her gift.

“Mom, I hope you didn’t get me anything extravagant,” Jim warned, but Winona merely smiled.

“You’re gonna need to put your shoes on. It’s not something I can just bring down to you.”

Jim groaned as he realized what this probably meant, and everyone present stood up together to go pull their shoes on. “Mom, you shouldn’t have done this.”

She just smiled innocently. “Done what, Jim?” When everyone had shoes and boots on, she offered the lead to Leo, who put his hands over Jim’s eyes and guided him out of the house.

When Leo released his hands from over Jim’s eyes, it was to show a slightly used Volkswagen Jetta in the McCoy’s driveway.

“I was planning to get you a car for your 18th birthday,” Winona admitted. “But since you’re about to go off to school, I figured I’d do it for your 17th. The McCoys agreed to keep it in their garage for a few days, so you wouldn’t find it.”

“Thank you, mom. All of you, thank you. This has been a great birthday because of all of you,” Jim said sincerely, and he hugged Winona again. “I don’t know about you guys, but I could go for some cake,” he suggested, and everyone smiled.

“I’ve got cake inside,” Winona said, and they all headed back into the Kirk’s house for cake.

This year, Leo smashed the cake in Jim’s face before Jim could smash cake in his.

Later, when they were alone in Jim’s room again, Leo licked the remaining frosting from Jim’s lips, and decided that they really needed to have cake together more often.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really not sure what's going on with this part, or my posting schedule. This part is terrible, and I apologize profusely. I got screwed up when the last part didn't get posted until late Saturday, and then I started back at the Y Monday night and I just didn't get around to posting. I've also got a massive paper due next week, so no guarantees about the next part being up soon.  
> Also, I named Carol's mum after one of my best friends, because I could. My Andrea is the sweetest person ever, and she's literally one of my best friends, right after Anneliese. Since not much (really, nothing) is known about her besides her maiden name, I took the opportunity to customize her. If she doesn't fit your ideas of Carol's mother, feel free to ignore my opinion.


End file.
